Somewhere I know you're out there
by LoreoftheFaye
Summary: Post Season 7 - Faith finds herself stuck in 1978 London and can only turn to Ripper for help. Ripper's running from his destiny as a Watcher and can't hide his natural fascination for a Slayer in the flesh. What happens as they spend time together and how can he let her go back to her own time knowing he's not the same when she gets there?
1. Bait and Switch

"What the hell was that thing?"

The blond Slayer pushed through the door to Giles' London flat looking cranky and a little petulant. The others trailed in after her, worse for the wear and confused. Giles last of all, closing the door behind him. It was quite a crowd tonight in his small 2 bedroom space. Faith plunked herself down on the sofa with a bottle of Jack. Xander sat near her not making any jokes and Willow was somewhere beyond looking out the window nervously. Buffy was silently glad Dawnie was away at college so she could lead a normal life.

"I don't know." Giles admitted at last. "It presented itself as a spirit. The spell Willow and I performed should have worked."

He pushed his glasses up and pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes to try and realign his focus. He replayed the events of the night and relived their spectacular failure in ridding the streets of London of what he thought was a ghost. Routine possession reliving a sequence of events with a very horrid ending. Single victims threw themselves off the Cronoker Bridge in apparent suicide. It claimed three lives this week alone and more to come if they couldn't stop it.

"Should have." The blond retorted, not happy to have been defeated that night. Her Watcher shook his head. Spirits were never really his area of expertise. He had no idea what could present itself as a ghost and not be vulnerable to a ghost's weaknesses. He thought it was safe to say that it wasn't a poltergeist or something similar considering the manifestations were completely different. He suddenly thought of Deirdre and her hobby of spirits. She knew practically every type that existed but she was dead and he couldn't ask her. Once upon a time she was the one that mentioned Eyghon out of pure fascination for "living sleep" and it was Ripper that took it a step further.

He shook his head.

"I'm afraid I'm out of my depth as far as this is concerned. Deirdre was the spirit expert, not me."

He moved to his bookshelf to pick up likely candidates for researching potential. He piled them out for the gang to go to only noticing once he was finished that Willow had not moved. In fact, she seemed very lost in thought and wasn't much aware of what was going on. He moved to her side, careful of her since their daring ploy to thwart the First. It had only been a week or two and Giles thought she might be in shock still from everything they'd been through.

"Willow?"

She started, as if she had no idea he existed at all, let alone had come up beside her. Her round green eyes considered him trying to spark recognition of his features.

"Oh, hey!" The identity dawned on her at last. "What's…"

She trailed off seeing everyone except Faith absorbed in books. She looked alarmed, scrambling to get out of her seat and make up for lost time. The Watcher gently helped, giving her a concerned look as he did and delaying her from crossing to the stack of books. His jade eyes searched her as he held her arm.

"If you need to rest…" he offered lightly.

"No! No, I'm ok." She returned, shaking off his concern. She wasn't going to let anyone know just how bone weary she was from everything. She hid it well all things considering. "I was just thinking. We can still ask her, can't we?"

Giles looked puzzled for a moment, not following. "Deirdre?"

"Yeah. Why can't we ask her? Spirits communicate with the living don't they?"

"Well, yes, I suppose they do. Or, rather, they can. It's just a matter of finding the right spell I suppose."

"Good, then we'll do that. We can bypass research mode for once." Buffy was all for this new plan of action.

"Are you sure?" Jade eyes glowed with concern again, hesitant to let Willow strain herself. She brushed them off and smiled. He was mollified and moved to make preparations. It seems they had a course of action, albeit an unusual one, but he was happy to have things resolved quickly. It wouldn't take long to find out a simple spirit summoning ritual and have it performed. Far less time to do that than to figure out what this spirit thing actually was. For once he felt like they were on the upper hand in a fight.

When the circle was set up a short time later he positioned Faith, Buffy, himself and Willow around it at the four points. There were specific instructions not to move or break the circle. Willow sat at the head of the circle and started chanting, the powder line of the circle glowing without much help from the candles each person held. The Slayers watched from their posts, knowing they had to do this and yet neither of them magically inclined.

A swirling vortex seemed to appear out of the floor in the middle of the circle, a white mist flooding out of it in rolling waves, coating the floor in fog. Deirdre was solidifying, a younger version than Giles expected, her form taking insubstantial shape in front of them.

"Oh, hey…OH!"

Xander was interrupting from the kitchen, his eye patch preventing him from seeing the duffel on the floor Buffy was using to carry weapons in. He tripped and before he could catch himself he crashed into Faith from behind. The brunette pitched forward, trying to find something to stop her fall and literally grasping at air. Everything happened at once. Someone screamed, maybe the witch, and the air seemed to whine with energy. With the circle broken the lights went out and everyone was left in the dark for a few sputtering moments.

"Owwww." Xander lamented, rubbing his bruised shin on the floor. Giles scrambled up and clicked on a lamp. There was chaos in front of him and it took a minute to sort it out. Buffy was the first to react. "Oh my God, Willow!" The blond dashed toward her friend who was lying prostrate on the floor. Giles follow this with his eyes and ran over a form he didn't expect.

"Deirdre?" She was lying in the middle of where the circle had been and appeared to be unconscious as well. He went to her and rolled her over gently, finding her form very solid and warm beneath his hands. To say he was shocked was a gross understatement. She roused a little as he picked her up, taking in the appearance of her. Had they ever been so young? It was hard to remember but staring at the only girl in their gang looking like she was no more than twenty five made it seem like no time had passed at all. He set her on a chair in the kitchen and set about doing what he did best in a crisis, making tea.

"Christ, Ripper, that was rough." She complained, not quite into her senses yet as she had not realized that he was older, she was not where she thought she was, and the gang was nowhere in sight. "Next time find something a bit easier on the…"

She finally raised her head and her eyes focused. "Bloody hell!" she breathed, unable to process things for a few long minutes. Giles put the teacup in front of her, the leaves steeping in boiling water. He took the chair opposite her.

"Hello Dee."

"Ripper, I don't understand…"

"Actually, ah, it's Rupert now. Or Giles as the gang calls me."

"They're here, too?"

Giles realized what he'd said and paled a little. Most of the old gang was dead but he couldn't very well tell her that and risk the past. He'd adopted a new one in the form of a family.

"No. I don't run with the people I used to anymore. You might say we all grew up."

Well, most of them had. Ethan was still debatable but then again maturing was always optional.

"I was referring to the Slayer and her friends. Family it feels like sometimes."

There was unmistakable affection in his tone. He'd watched each one grow with pride and in his shock had forgotten one of them was unconscious in the living room. He sighed and tried to figure out what went wrong. She was only supposed to be a spirit. Had they gone wrong somewhere? He puzzled it a while and tried to go over the details of the spell again, each one screaming that it should have worked properly.

"The Slayer?"

He let himself grin, looking recklessly handsome as he did. "Yes. It seems I turned into my father's son after all though it seems to have worked out well, in the end."

Except for the nightmarish Apocalypses and impossible choices to make. He supposed his life would have been full of that, anyway, if his youth was an indication. He could not get over how Dee looked and the fresh bloom in her cheeks and the shine in her eyes. He may not ever have considered himself attracted to her in the past but he was finding at the moment that her beauty was very becoming now in the same way memories appear better than they may have been. But then a very worried Slayer appeared in the door.

"I can't wake Willow up. Giles, I moved her to the bed in the guest room but I don't know what to do."

"Oh!" He was startled from his thoughts. "Let me go take a look at her."

Dierdre followed along with no other options she could see. Where she'd come from would simply have to wait until they could manage to get her back. Giles moved into the bedroom to look at Willow who appeared peaceful enough. The only problem was that she was comatose. He frowned, checking her pupils and her pulse and watching her breath. Rudimentary aspects of healing he knew. Beyond that he was arsed. Buffy fretted near him as he sighed, coming to realize there was nothing he could do.

"Whatever it was that brought Deirdre in the flesh must have cost more than simply summoning her. Willow, I knew she was weakened from what she did in Sunnydale but I didn't know about this. I wish I knew what went wrong. I should consult my books."

Xander appeared in the doorway, looking strained.

"I guess no one noticed. Faith's missing."


	2. Finding Old Friends

Chap 2 –

"I beg your pardon?"

The brown haired boy shook his head, having been the only person in the living room to notice when everyone went their separate ways. Missing Faith seemed like a big thing to lose and the others felt pretty bad for it. They fanned out, each person taking a room to look. Giles had been in the kitchen with Deirdre and skipped looking there. Buffy brought Willow into the spare room and knew she wasn't there. In the end they had to admit that she was gone, probably in the confusion.

Giles frowned. "I don't suppose…"

A worried Slayer responded tersely, "spill." Faith wasn't her favorite person but there was respect now, common ground.

"Deirdre isn't meant to be here. Not in the flesh, I mean, or this incarnation of self. I wonder if…" he trailed off as he realized the woman was standing just behind him and had just heard something it was probably best not to hear. "Oh, Dee, I'm sorry."

"No. I understand. I won't ask though I should probably get back as soon as I can to prevent anything else from going wrong."

Giles was now figuring out the temporal implications of what they'd done. He frowned. "Dee, if you're here...how old are you?"

"I'm twenty one."

"That would make me twenty three so you came from 1978."

"Wouldn't it have been easier just to ask her what year she came from.?"

"Xander, be quiet."

"Right."

"Maybe the magic thought-"

"The magic thinks?"

"Buffy, please. This is only speculation and your questions aren't helping."

Chastised, she quieted. He continued.

"The magic might have taken Faith in trade, essentially, pulling Deirdre from a point in the past to be flesh and bone in the present. I can only hope that means Faith is in the past somewhere and not lost in the ether. Either way it could be disastrous for her."

"Hello? Didn't you see the Butterfly Effect? It could be bad for all of us!"

"Xander, that theory is more than a movie. I'm quite familiar."

"He's right Ripper."

"I know."

Giles crossed the room to his bookshelf and moved to take several volumes from it. From the way the other two moved it was clear to Deirdre that this was practiced routine though Xander moved to get his coat on. She looked puzzled. "You're leaving?"

"Donuts."

"Don't forget the jellies."

"G-man, in all the time you've known me have I ever let you down?"

The pointed look Xander received in return quieted him. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know the routine. Jellies for you, chocolate for Buffy and sprinkles for Willow." Not that Willow would need them at the moment but he remained hopeful.

"If I might be so bold?" Dee piped up. He paused. "Maple for me?"

He grinned and was out the door.

The others delved into research trying to figure out how Deirdre was there and where Faith had gone to, whether she had, in fact, been taken in exchange. The Watcher caught himself giving sidelong glances to his former friend sitting innocently in the flesh no more than a few feet from him. Part of him was immensely gratified to see her and how young and vibrant she was. The other worried that this was not her time and she'd change things by being here, make different choices. How this had gone was certainly not meant to be and he was sure there would be consequences to bear.

Buffy was the first to give up and get bored even with donuts to satisfy her. She paced restlessly, worried for Willow and even part of her worried for Faith. They were the original two and there was strength and solidarity in that. They may be at odds but they had a shared past, similar fears and concerns. No, Buffy needed to keep Faith around. Willow, however, was in the forefront of her mind. Giles was happy to have the help from someone that understood magic and possession. She knew she didn't belong and she was worried about what would happen when she returned to her own time.

"So far my theory holds true. Something like this takes an exceptional amount of energy and Willow did not have anything to channel it through like she did with the scythe. I'm afraid she's quite overwhelmed her body. It would explain the state she's in."

"So that means she'll wake up when she rests, doesn't it? She's just tired?"

"I'm afraid magical influence doesn't work in that way, Buffy. It's difficult to say how long it will take her to wake," he paused, swallowing hard, "if she does at all."

"If is not the right answer, Giles."

"Of course I'll do everything I can but it's the only answer, for now, that I have to give Buffy."

"Try harder."

Giles understood that she was simply concerned for her friend and let it drop, returning to his books without another comment. He wanted Willow to wake as much as the rest of them. Moreso because he should have seen through her brave front and prevented her from doing this in the first place. She was powerful but far from invulnerable. The Watcher sighed, flipping through the book to another section he thought might help. Faith was the priority for now. Willow's condition, while tragic, was completely stable. She'd wake or she wouldn't. Faith, however, was gone and no one knew where. That took precedence.

When Buffy and Xander left the room Deirdre looked up from her own book. She was still amazed by everything that had happened and how things had changed. In a certain light the boyish charm of his youth could be seen clearly. She'd fancied him, still did at this age and even with this difference. He lifted his eyebrow never taking his eyes off of the text in front of him.

"You never were subtle." He observed.

"You'll have to take my memory, you know." She responded evenly knowing he never knew a thing about her being head over heels for him for most of the time they knew each other. He had his pick of women so she accepted his eye would never fall to her. Never had, apparently. She frowned to think of forgetting this.

"I'm not thinking that far ahead yet, Dee."

"No, of course, you're right." She always was the reasonable one among them. "But when you are that might bear some consideration. If I remember all of this I could alter the past in unfathomable ways."

"I know." And he worried that if the didn't get to Faith soon they would face the same issue, wherever she was. He had no idea the Slayer was closer to home than he could have imagined.


	3. Unfamiliar Territory

_Ay, Oh! Let's go! Ay Oh! Let's go!_

Faith groaned.

The first thing she was aware of was the loud thudding bass of music not very far from where she was. The second thing was an enormous headache that made her feel like the world was right on top of her head, weighing heavy on her shoulders and causing her to feel like her mind would explode. She went to move and it felt like the world shifted on it axis and she collapsed back down again as a wave of nausea swept over her prone body. That's when she noticed the wet concrete beneath her and not the carpet of the living room she expected. The brunette chanced opening her eyes and waited the long minutes it took for them to focus.

She was in an alley, face down as it happened, and she didn't immediately recognize where she was which meant she was somewhere unfamiliar. The music kept pounding away and she figured it had to be close by. Painfully she pushed herself up to her knees, sitting on them a minute to steady herself as a second wave of nausea hit her, and then pushed herself to standing. She felt like she'd been hit by a truck and nothing ever made her feel this way.

Unfortunately she couldn't remember what happened before waking up on the ground.

Faith shook, figuring she needed to find out where she was first and to do that she needed to be around people. The music was coming from what seemed to be a club across the street. She headed toward it and pinpointed the music as the Ramones, something she recognized. It was slow going but she came closer to the bar and felt a bit better as she moved and blood started flowing again. She remembered thinking that Giles did not have this good of taste in music.

Things started to stop making sense when she saw the cars parked on the street – all old models and all with old plates. When she saw people they were dressed in a way she was not used to and looked at her in her leather like she was strange. Ok, that much wasn't very unusual but still she felt unnerved. After some searching she found a newspaper.

"Oh, fuck me!" she grumbled. The date read September 15th, 1978. Her sense of being wasn't getting any better. "What. The. Fuck?"

At least she was still in London though that was of little comfort considering she didn't know the city very well. She'd only just arrived a month or two ago and was pretty sure Giles wasn't as his townhouse now. She didn't know how old he was in this time exactly, just somewhere in his twenties. She guessed. Dates and things weren't necessarily something she kept track of. It was all very superfluous before but now she wished she'd paid attention. But if anyone knew how to send her home, despite the age, it was Giles.

Faith knew nothing of Ripper.

She moved toward what appeared to be a thrasher club on the wrong side of the tracks. At least that was familiar territory even if she'd never been there before. All of these types of places were the same and all of them attracted the same types of people. It would be easier to get info out of a drunken guy looking for a good time. Faith was just the person to exploit that and though it would be hell on her head and her nerves she knew it was pretty much her only avenue without appearing like a crazy person with visions of 2003 in her mind.

As she approached the club several people were on their way out. One of them brushed into her with his arm wrapped around a far out looking blond in tight clothing. Faith, feeling upset and aggressive turned and paused. "HEY! Excuse you"

The man stopped, turning himself, his arm sliding from the blond's shoulder. "What?"

"You heard me."

Apparently he wasn't used to being called on his misconduct as his eyes narrowed and a dangerous glint was cast in his jade eyes. He apparently had no idea he was crossing a Slayer.

"I'm not apologizing to anyone."

"You will." Getting out a little aggression was a good thing at the moment in the brunette's eyes. She didn't notice the magic starting to crackle around his own fists. She was too busy imagining a good beat down. As she took a step forward the blond slid effortlessly between them apparently unwilling to wait while the two clashed before she got what she wanted.

"Ripper…" she purred, kissing him deeply enough to distract him and the magic dropped. "What are you doing wasting time? You can't hit girls."

His recklessly handsome grin was the response as he pulled her possessively to himself and kissed her again. "Of course you're right, dove, though she hardly qualifies."

He and his mates had a good laugh and Faith was not feeling any better, coaching herself against jumping him and pummeling him senseless. A headachy confused wibbly wobbly timey wimey slayer was not a happy slayer. But she recognized that getting arrested would not be the best way to get home and stood rigidly as he walked away, staring daggers into his back. Disaster was averted for now. The thought of entering the club made her head want to preemptively split open but she forced herself to move forward.

Inside the club was what she expected it to be. It was dark and there were plenty of people clad in leather, like she, and the moment she walked in she noticed several pairs of eyes narrowing in on her. It was like shooting fish in a barrel. Pretty soon someone was bold enough to approach thinking her easy prey. She let them.

"Arrow."

He extended his hand and she assumed that was the name he went by rather than anything important.

"Faith."

But she didn't take his hand and instead moved away from him, playing a game she'd moved through the motions of too many times to count. He took the bait and followed, smiling after her. "Buy you a shot?"

"Sure." Who was she to turn down free booze?

"Oye!" He signaled the bartender and ordered their drinks. Faith took hers with the ease of long practice, hoping to dull the ache in her head. That earned her an impressed look. This was promising. She was the little hellion their mothers warned them about but from where she was sitting he didn't seem very concerned with warnings. That worked out better for Faith, anyway and she meant to use that advantage as long as she had it. Information – that was the name of the game. She grabbed him by the neck of his shirt and tugged him with her away from the bar.

"Let's dance."


	4. Can't Be Blamed

"Oh bugger."

Giles jumped back as the spell he was performing backfired and belched black smoke against where he'd been standing to disperse in his clean living room. He sighed, slumping against the wall behind him. It was clear Faith was not around, no place on Earth he could track. He'd been trying by every conventional means at his disposal and even some not so ordinary ones to find out where she'd gone. Willow was still in her coma, of sorts, though she was stable and Xander blamed himself for everything.

"Good heavens!"

Dee entered the room, opening a window to let the smoke billow out of his apartment. If anyone spotted it below it might cause panic but he was hardly fussed to care. The concerns he had were greater than a false alarm for fire. His friend led him to the couch and sat him down, he needed the rest forgoing sleep in this pursuit. She gave him a sympathetic look and held onto him quietly, stroking his hair.

"That feels nice, Dee." He admitted quietly, closing his eyes to try and rest them as well.

"Shhh. If you keep pushing yourself like this you'll go mad, Ripper."

"I have to find her. If she's lost in the ether there's no telling what might happen. She may die, or go mad, or get trapped in some untold hell."

"We'll find her. You have a brilliant mind but if you keep at it like this we'll lose you. We can't afford to lose your mind."

"I thought defeating the Hellmouth might make things easier."

That statement had nothing to do with the situation at had, or very little, and everything to do with his state of mind and expectations.

"It was relative, of course, since there are other things to deal with but I hoped…" he sighed, "I hoped Buffy and Faith might have a chance at a normal life with others to take up the mantle. I wanted them to find happiness and try and test the waters. Now look what's happened."

"It was an accident. You can't be blamed."

"I don't blame myself. I just…I think I'm tired of the struggle. Everyone knows the uphill battle of a Slayer and I suffered Buffy dying twice. My end of the bargain should have been over and now I'm still here, still struggling and I…"

"You wanted a chance to find normal, too."

"Wouldn't you?" He moved away from her reach and shifted on the couch, opening his eyes to look at her. "It's a lonely life. My flesh and my career have denied me children, a wife. I have a family in these children, adults, but it's not the same. When I knew you I didn't care about normal. I didn't care about a family and all but gave away my future. I was content to bargain myself to new thrills. But now I see my formative years at an end and the autumn of my life approaching and I wish I had normal, respite. Reforming the Council gave me hope that I, too, could pass off my mantle and try to find a relative normal for myself. I want to be in love, Dee, and to try and fill the rest of my time with laughter and companionship. Not disasters like this."

"Rupert…" She shook her head, calling him properly by his first name. He really had no idea, did he? It was almost cruelly ironic. "You really never guessed, did you?"

He looked puzzled, too lost in his own thoughts to really process what she was saying. "Guess what?"

"I'm over the moon for you. Always was. Would have followed you on a string if you so much as glanced my way too long. Do you have any idea how long I've wanted to tell you? But I knew it would never happen. Ethan would have hounded you until you were rid of me and you've have gotten bored quickly enough."

"Dee..." he reached for her realizing for the first time the subtlety of a million looks she gave him. He'd had no idea and it would have been how she said. He didn't want anything to tie him down when he was younger. And then he'd been so wrapped up in schooling and the Council he never gave it a thought. She'd married by then, of course, many years afterward.

"It's nothing. I'll forget I ever told you when you send me back."

"If it helps you married. Nice chap." Until they divorced but why bog her down with that?

"You don't have to cheer me up. I'm fine."

"You were always a good friend, Dee. I always wished we'd kept in touch more regularly."

"I'll hold you to that."

She looked around the room and noted that she smoke was mostly gone now. His experiment's remnants were lying innocuously on the table.

"Go lie down Rupert. Have a rest. Everything will be here when you wake up."

He nodded and ceded to her order, moving himself into his bedroom and all but collapsing on the bed. He didn't even bother to undress himself as he gathered up his pillow in his arms. Before he was consciously aware of falling he was asleep. The world ceased to be around him and he began to dream of a dark street in his youth. It was a night like any other, loud music behind him and a girl on his arm. He saw himself, his leather jacket and his earring glittering in the lamplight. He saw Ethan to one side, Richard to another and Randall somewhere behind.

And a girl.

There was a girl in front of him, angering him. He struggled to focus but the image was grainy like old film in his mind. He looked and tried to focus. Faith. It was Faith. He saw that cascade of brown hair and those spitfire eyes.

That's impossible.

His mind flickered, knowing it was impossible to be seeing her in what appeared to be a memory. He told himself that it was the focus of recent events, pouring all his attention on her coupled with the revelation of what Deirdre told him that switched this out. Not Faith. No, impossible for it to be Faith.

The image wavered, Deirdre replacing the brunette and then the image faded away completely into oblivion. He sighed in his sleep and let it go.


	5. Meeting Ripper

It took some doing but she finally tracked down enough rumors to find out where an R. Giles might be found. The building wasn't promising on the wrong side of town and a run down place in a row of other run down brownstones that might have been nice at one time but now suffered from a lack of give a damn. She looked it over from across the street first, trying to take measure of it, and then moved over to stand in front of the door. She didn't know anything about a young Giles but reasoned he had to be the same as he was in her time. Born in tweed diapers, that's what the joke was, right?

She knocked.

There was thudding inside, cursing, someone moving closer to the door. She listened to their progress and wasn't surprised when the door swung open. The early morning sunlight wasn't something she liked seeing but when it struck the very rock hard abs of the male in front of her she couldn't help but find it wildly appealing. She stared at that first, her eyes drifting up from the waistband of loose cotton pants up the body to finally look at the face that, so happened, had a scowl on it. The blood shot eyes told his story. The scowl added to it.

"What do you want?"

It was the man from the night before but neither remembered the brief confrontation. She'd had other things on her mind and he'd been drunk.

"I'm looking for Giles, Rupert."

A flicker of recognition, barely a hint of it on his face and in his eyes. He knew what she was talking about. His first name was foreign on her tongue but if she wanted to find him this was the route. He was the only person she trusted to help her get back to the right time and that was the only lead she had. Going to the Council was pretty much out of the question. They'd probably treat this like the Inquisition and she didn't want that.

"Who're you?" Came the nasty reply.

"Faith."

"Faith who?"

"Seriously? You wanna go back to bed, probably dealing with a massive hangover, and I just want to talk to him so if you could pull your head out and let me know if he's here or not that'd be great."

He looked at her, surprised, another flicker of recognition in his eyes. The attitude seemed familiar but no one dared question him, at least no one that knew him well. It certainly made it easier to run his gang but it also often left him with a desire for a challenge. He knew that about himself and as the stakes traveled higher and higher for him in his night time games the would be Watcher knew it could only ever end in disaster. It was like a train wreck as devastating in scope and yet he was unable to stray from his path.

"No one calls me Rupert. Or Giles," though that had a ring to it. "The name's Ripper."

"Oh. My. God." Now that she looked she saw the similarities. She'd heard something about Ripper but not much and certainly not enough to put the pieces together last night. He was devastatingly handsome and Faith could not help but wonder that the owner of those abs was the same tweedy librarian she'd first met. What a difference a decade or two could make! Her eyes raised up to his own as she struggled to deal with the discrepancies.

"I need your help." Easier to get straight to the point rather than beating around the bush. "And you're the only one I know who can help me."

"But I don't know you."

"You will. I'm from the future."

Oh, great. Fave shades of fantastic. She was at his door in the seventies speaking that phrase. She didn't expect him probably take her seriously. All she needed to complete the idiocy was a silver lame suit and some sort of fake ray gun. The look on his face spoke of this reluctance and she half expected him to slam the door in her face. But he didn't do that. In fact she thought she saw something else in him, hard to place.

"Prove it."

"Ummm…" She didn't know much about Ripper, precious little. "You're supposed to be a Watcher. Your dad was, I think, and your granddad."

"Grandmother." He corrected, sternly, his facial expression deepening in its displeasure.

"Ok. But the point is that you should be a Watcher. And you're not. This is what you did to get away from being a Watcher."

"How do you know that?"

"Cause I'm a Slayer."

"You're joking. You?" She didn't look like any Slayer he'd ever imagined. She was beautiful, tough.

"Yeah. Me. In the flesh."

He finally relented and opened the door to allow her into his flat. He shared it with the others but they were all crashed or elsewhere. He led her through the house and she marveled at the sights she saw. It was unkempt, untidy, and looked like it might fall down from the inside but he was there and it didn't appear to bother him. She shrugged and kept walking. When they got into his room, she assumed it was his room, the blond was still lying in his bed, barely covered by the sheet. It was obvious what happened there the night before but it was also very evident that Giles has slept on the couch by the way it had a pillow and blanket and still appeared rumpled.

Unceremoniously, he woke her. "Time to fly away, dove."

She was not awake enough to be annoyed or had simply expected it. To Faith's utter amazement she simply left without another sound. She looked around at the mattress on the floor and the sunlight working its way through the cracks in the boarded up window and thought his room could not look any more clichéd of a rebel badass if he tried. Except, maybe, if he had painted his walls black but that would be work and she doubted he gave that much of a shit about it.

"Have a seat."

"Where?" She looked around. There weren't any chairs and the couch was still done up like a makeshift bed. He picked up the covers and tossed them onto the mattress.

"I thought you were rich." She'd heard that somewhere, right?

"My parents are rich. They cut me off when I decided not to give my life to some poor girl with a suicide mission in life."

"Can's say I blame you there as one of those girls with a suicide mission. I wouldn't be me if given the chance."

"You'd give it up?"

"Probably. Don't get me wrong…I like being a Slayer. There's just something about having the strength to stand up to those bastards that gets me off. When that adrenaline hits and all you can hear is the rush of blood in your ears and you get this surge of power going there's nothing like it. It's just," a faraway look crossed her eyes, "nothing like it."

"Prove it to me."

"What?"

"You want my help. You claim to be a Slayer. Prove it to me."

"Right now?"

"Don't be daft. When the sun sets, of course."

"If I prove it you promise to help me get back to my time?"

A charming, roguishly handsome smile. "Maybe…"


	6. Breakthrough

Rupert was having an unusual dream, again.

He was in the old flat back in London in his youth and he was talking to a girl that claimed…claimed to be from the future. Yes, that's what it was. Who on Earth ever claimed to be from the future in his past? He couldn't think of anyone but the scene was very clear on that point. He dismissed Faith's image outright until the conversation unfolded a bit more. She sounded very much like the Faith he knew, her words were things he knew she'd say.

Then she mentioned something he didn't know. He's speculated it, of course, but he hadn't known she lived with her previous Watcher or that she'd loved him like family. He simply didn't have the knowledge of the event or the intimate details of how David died. He listened to her tale with rapt fascination, learning part of the inner workings of a very complicated young woman.

He was beginning to suspect this was not a dream. He was also beginning to think that this was not a daily focus being brought into subconscious dreaming. These didn't feel like dreams. They felt like memories, hazy and tangible all at once. A few things started clicking in place and he woke in a cold sweat. His head ached a little but he also had a whopper of a puzzle peace fall into place.

"She's in the past. Of course! The magic pulled Dee from, when was it? 1978? It must have taken Faith in exchange and threw her into the past in Deirdre's place. She probably only sought me out because I'm the person she knows in London and she wouldn't trust the Council."

He took a deep breath, pulling in air and letting out in a slow and steady woosh. This was not good. The results of this could be disastrous to his younger self and the time line. They needed to get her back into the present and Dee back into the past as soon as possible. But, he consoled himself, at least she wasn't stuck in the ether somewhere or lost in some other way from this mix up. He could deliver some happy news to the worried Scoobies. As for Willow…that was a dilemma stable for now. Her body needed rest. It would come out of this coma in time.

He hoped.

The Watcher moved from his bed where Dee commanded him and moved back into the living room picking up every book her had that even remotely dealt with time travel, time glitches, and the butterfly effect. If there was a way to prevent any trouble he wanted to find it. If there was a way to pick Faith up and bring her home easily he wanted to find it. Buffy was asleep on the couch and murmured as he turned on the lamp, used to this. She simply turned over in her sleep and brought the blanket more firmly around herself.

"Bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger." He grumbled, scanning over a page but really turning over the problem at hand.

"That's not a good word."

The man started as Xander came into the room looking rumpled and a bit worse for the wear. He took a seat opposite Giles and picked up a book from the table. Checking the title the boy lifted an eyebrow.

"Something you want to share with the rest of the class?"

"I've figure out where Faith is, I think. I can't be sure yet but the signs and the logic follows."

"I'm not following. Point me in the right direction. Where is Faith?"

Giles looked up, jade eyes observing the guilt on the other's face even if his tone was the usual sarcasm he employed.

"I suspect Faith is in the past. Specifically she's in the place and time Deirdre is supposed to be in."

"The past?"

"Yes. 1978 to be exact."

"Well, great. Just yank her back and call it a day."

"It's not that simple, Xander. There are factors, risks, both to Faith and to Deirdre. I can't just, as you so delicately put it, yank her back. She's made contact with me in the past and seems to be filling the gap created by Dee's disappearance. But this is a good thing. As she makes contact I seem to be remembering it through dreams. In this way we can track her for when we have a solid idea of how to fix this."

"And how long will that be?"

"I don't know yet. I'm not a bloody magician. I can't pull answers out of a hat."

The other was sufficiently chastised and shook his head. "What are the risks?"

"She could alter the past, Xander. She could change things by being there, seeing me. And if I change them back Dee could change things by knowing the future and even if we manage to avoid this quantum mechanical problem there's still the logistics of a spell powerful enough to send both women back to their respective times and simple enough that I can perform it on my own."

"Oh."

"Indeed." The others dry tone did little to disguise his frustration and little of it was actually aimed at Xander himself.

"How can I help?"

"I'm not sure yet. I need you to make a list of the pages where I can find simple spells that transcend time and space, recall lost objects and such. Perhaps I can utilize this same desire to fuel the larger spell to retrieve Faith."

The boy set to work and both men worked through the night until the sun began turning the sky from dark blue to orange and pink. Xander was passed out on the table as the sun rose properly, head cradled in the crook of his arm. Giles was not much better, bleary eyed and struggling to stay away in his own chair, head dipping only to jerk back up again suddenly. He was trying to do this on remarkably little sleep. Dee was right, he was not going to do well unless he was rested.

"Giles?"

He jumped, his leg kicking out to meet the solid wood of the table. Pain flared through his body and he swore, looking to the person that woke him from dozing, his Slayer. Chagrined and rubbing his shin ruefully he sighed.

"How long have I been asleep?"

"I don't think you really were. Maybe ten minutes. How long have you been out here working?"

"I don't know. What time is it?"

"Almost seven."

"About nine hours then, I suppose."

"Go to sleep."

"I can't. I know where Faith is. I need to bring her back."

He quickly outlined his thoughts and the findings of the night before wishing there was some way to verify this more than simply dreaming things that had not existed and working on theory alone. To her credit Buffy took it in stride, nodding along with his theory. It was as good as any other and it was the only thing they had to work on. It would have to do.

He was asleep again not long after Buffy sat down to help. His head was tilted at an angle that would scream pain when he woke but the Slayer didn't dare wake him for fear that this brief nap was the only sleep he'd allow himself for a long time. She knew his habits and knew that when he was hot on the heels of a theory he'd stop at nothing. This seemed especially dire since there was time involved and the manipulation and possible corruption of timelines.

Just another day in the life of the Slayer.


End file.
